Polaroid/Roman/Photo [1985]
(Angular Recording Corporation,2010)
Ruth's 'Polaroid/Roman/Photo' is one of the most extraordinary archival discoveries to resurface thanks to a groundswell of vintage '80s coldwave/darkwave/synth-pop. Angular Records included it as part of their awesome 'Cold Waves & Minimal Electronics' compilation earlier in the year, and now give the full original album a well warranted reissue 25 years after the drop. The fact that the original only sold 50 copies back in 1985 means it exchanges hands for over L300 these days, which should tell you something about its cult status in the annals of underground synth pop. Parisian graphic artist and photographer, Thierry Müller, drew upon his inspirations from Eno to Neu, Kraftwerk and the Velvets to create seven tracks of darkly sexy French synth music, from the noirish, wiry collage of 'Thriller' to that unmistakable 'Polaroid/Roman/Photo', via a cover of Can's 'She Brings The Rain' and the Afrobeat-disco-spiked 'Mabelle' or the brilliantly odd 'Tu M'ennuies'.
It's the early '80s, and Thierry Müller, a graphic artist and krautrock fan from Paris, has decided to put his experimental rock group Ilitch on hold and make something, as he puts it, 'that people could dance to'. The result is Ruth, a conceptual project that exists for just one album, 1985's Polaroid/Roman/Photo. Seven tracks long, it is a remarkable piece of experimental but danceable new-wave, and nowhere more remarkable than the title track – an icy-cold cut of flickering synthesiser, taut guitar and jagged saxophone featuring disconsolate boy-girl vocals and the mechanical click-spool sound of a Polaroid camera.
Polaroid/Roman/Photo is not a success. History has it that the record sells in the region of 50 copies, and before long, Müller's interest has strayed elsewhere... But this is not the end for Ruth. By the year 2000, the track 'Polaroid/Roman/Photo' has been rediscovered and is being recirculated by an international underground of collectors and music fans entranced by the early groups of France's la vague froid – the movement that became known internationally as 'cold wave'.
